Strangers at the Gate
Subtitle: Social Disorder in South China, 1839-1861
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: December 30, 1997
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 310
ISBN-13: 9780520212398
Subjects: Asian / Middle Eastern history: c 1500 to c 1900; Revolutions & coups; Social history; c 1800 to c 1900; China - History; History; History - General History; History: World; China; Asia - China; History / General
Description: Now available again, this pioneering work examines one of the most controversial periods in Chinese history: the relationship between the Chinese civil and military authorities and the British trading community in southern China on the eve of the Taiping Rebellion, one of the most calamitous events in Chinese history.

Wakeman shows how prevailing rural discontent, urban riots, secret-society activity, and the imbalance of class and clan affected the mechanisms of regional power and gentry control, demonstrating the progression of rebellion and the historical inevitability of revolution.